title: Structural transition in peptide nanotubes.
abstract: Phase transitions in organic and inorganic materials are well-studied classical phenomena, where a change in the crystal space group symmetry induces a wide variation of physical properties, permitted by the crystalline symmetry in each phase. Here we observe a conformational induced transition in bioinspired peptide nanotubes (PNTs). We found that the PNTs change their original molecular assembly from a linear peptide conformation to a cyclic one, followed by a change of the nanocrystalline structure from a noncentrosymmetric hexagonal space group to a centrosymmetric orthorhombic space group. The observed transition is irreversible and induces a profound variation in the PNTs properties, from the microscopic to the macroscopic level. In this context, we follow the unique changes in the molecular, morphological, piezoelectric, second harmonic generation, and wettability properties of the PNTs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, George S Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Nadav
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amdursky
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Beker
authors.forename: Itai
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Koren
authors.forename: Becky
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bank-Srour
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mishina
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Semin
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rasing
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Zahava
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Barkay
authors.forename: Ehud
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gazit
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rosenman
mesh_terms: D017348:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning Transmission; D043942:Nanotubes; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D017155:Wettability; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides